GREG: Even as Chris Rainey darts over, around and past would-be tacklers, some people take away more concern than optimism.
Rainey’s 317 yards from scrimmage this year are more than double the total of anyone else on the team, but Gators fans seem more wowed by the volume of his touches than by what he’s done with them.
Rainey is clearly on top of his game with a 7.3 yards per carry average. That number tops even the 7.2 mark he put up last year, which would’ve tied for third in the nation if he’d met the minimum number of attempts to qualify.
I’m fine with Rainey touching the ball as many as 25 times per game, and I don’t see why it’d be any other way.
MATT: You can’t be serious.
While there’s little doubt Rainey is the most dynamic playmaker on the roster, the thought of him touching the ball 25 times a game is downright ludicrous. In his entire career at Florida, Rainey has never carried the rock more than 89 times in an entire season. He’s also never had more than 99 touches from scrimmage, but you advocate a season in which he would accumulate more than 300.
Starting this Saturday, you’ll see exactly why your plan is flawed, Greg.
In the Southeastern Conference, the linebackers and safeties are the real deal. They have the speed to close on Rainey off the edge. And, most importantly, they have the strength and power to pound his tiny frame so far down into the dirt that he’ll be begging to see the sideline.
We saw this last season when Jeff Demps toted it 26 times against Tennessee in the SEC opener — he was never the same.
Why tempt fate when there are so many other options?
GREG: You tempt fate because the whole idea is to get your best playmakers the ball as many times as you can.
A healthy Chris Rainey is worth about as much as an injured one if you’re going to keep him standing on the sidelines anyway.
Most skilled fantasy football players — a group I can assume you don’t fall into based on the ragtag crew of flunkies you put together in our draft — know about the alleged “Curse of 370,” which claims that any back who reaches that number of touches in a season typically slows down in subsequent years.
This shouldn’t be a concern for Rainey, who hasn’t even recorded 370 touches over the course of his entire career and has the luxury of ending a play out of bounds or in the end zone more often than a lot of other backs.
The anxiety isn’t over wearing him down — it’s about injuries. But Rainey takes an injury risk every day in practice, and every morning he gets out of bed.
You won’t get anywhere playing scared, and the Gators shouldn’t play scared with Rainey.
MATT: Lolz. Really, Greg? Really?
My fantasy prowess aside (my team, by the way, put up the exact same 110 points yours did in Week 1), your argument is senseless and baseless.
Rainey is electric, there’s no denying that, but he is best used sparingly.
The Gators have multiple playmaking options, especially in the run game, and the strength of their offense is the defense not knowing who will get the ball. With Rainey injured and out because you gave him more touches in two games than he’s had in any two his entire career, the Gators chances of winning diminish significantly.
What’s wrong with Demps all of a sudden? Is he chopped liver just because Rainey displayed a couple of spin moves?
What about Mike Gillislee, who was explosive in his first taste of extended action? Trey Burton is another option, as is the humongous and talented Hunter Joyer.
Basically, what you’re describing is very similar to how you’re justifying it — fantasy.
GREG: There’s nothing wrong with Demps. He’s a fine player and, by all accounts, a Rainey clone with fewer moves. He can still get a few carries per game, as can Burton in the wildcat.
But, if Rainey keeps up his insane average, Florida needs to keep giving him the ball. Sure, the Gators have other options. But if Rainey is good for 7 yards per play, why use them?
And if that average goes down or Rainey gets hurt, UF has the perfect backup. Demps isn’t a reason to give Rainey fewer carries, he’s an insurance policy that lets them work Rainey even harder.
The idea of players like Gillislee and Joyer stealing caries from Florida’s best player is silly to me. If UF finds itself in a spot where it needs to make plays and put up points, the ball needs to be in Rainey’s hands.
The guys playing behind him are there for a reason, to back him up. Little more.
MATT: I’m glad this edition of The Rally is coming to close, so we can save the readers some time reading more nonsense from “The Worst Writer in Alligator History.”
You’ve contradicted yourself so much in this column it’s not even funny. Rainey is a one-note back — albeit a damn good one — but he is not a featured back and should not be used as such.
That’s the bottom line.
Contact Greg Luca at gluca@alligator.org and Matt Watts at mwatts@alligator.org.
